Written by

Brian Eason

@brianeason

Superstorm Sandy ripped apart the auditorium in which it was housed, but the storm couldn’t silence a century-old pipe organ in Ocean Grove.

Organ curator John Shaw inspected the organ last week and gave it a clean bill of health, Neptune Township announced in a news release.

Shaw and Gordon Turk, the organist at Ocean Grove’s Great Auditorium, said they received dozens of messages from organ aficionados worldwide inquiring about the organ, after Hurricane Sandy tore off parts of the auditorium roof.

“The damage to the auditorium was a shock,” Turk said. “It’s such a special building, for so many wonderful reasons.”

Shaw determined on Monday that the organ sustained no significant damage from the storm. He said the blowers are functioning properly, as are the console and the organ’s 11,500 pipes, but the wind chest won’t be fully tested until the spring.

Originally built for $27,000, the organ was put in service on July 3, 1908. Designed by English inventor Robert Hope-Jones, the organ is housed directly behind the choir loft in four concrete chambers.

Turk said its “unusual and impressive dimensions” — the organ weighs close to 25 tons — give it historical significance. “It is understandably a source of community interest and pride, but most of all, it is quite simply a genuine musical treasure.”

Musicians who have served as organists at the auditorium include Will C. MacFarlane, Clarence Kohlman, Josephine Eddowes, Harold Fix, Clarence Reynolds, Beverly Davis, Jon Quinn and Robert Carwithin. Turk has been the organist there since 1974.